FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PAYROLL TAX - PAGE 2

* Hollande planning measures to boost competitiveness * Government resisting calls for "shock therapy" PARIS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Executives from nearly 100 of France's biggest companies called on the Socialist government on Sunday to cut payroll taxes by 30 billion euros ($39 billion) over two years to regain waning competitiveness. With the government preparing to unveil measures to boost competitiveness next month, the executives said the tax cut should be paid for by raising the value added sales tax and cutting public spending.

Congress has tabled Senator Moynihan's proposal to cut the rate of the Social Security payroll tax and increase the wage cap, and business will go on as usual. The rate will still be 6 1/4 percent on incomes up to $53,400 and for incomes over that amount, nothing. The federal treasury will continue to "borrow" the excess money from the trust fund, putting in IOUs to avoid raising the tax bracket for the highest income group of citizens. The Tribune editorial on this subject recently said to reduce the payroll tax now would deplete the fund and force an increase in taxes.

* Expiration would cost workers an average of $1,000 a year * Seniors' lobby group AARP opposes extending tax cut By Rachelle Younglai and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Support is mounting in the U.S. Congress, especially among Democrats, for extending a payroll tax holiday for 160 million Americans to protect workers from an immediate hit in their take-home pay at the beginning of next year, lawmakers say. The payroll tax holiday, now in its second year, has been providing workers with an average of about $1,000 a year in extra cash.

Jan 28 (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales should rise 3.4 percent this year, down from 4.2 percent growth in 2012, as higher payroll taxes cut into discretionary spending for consumers, the world's largest retail trade association said on Monday. The forecast assumes lower inflation and continued slow job growth, the National Retail Federation said. Consumer spending is likely to be weighed down by a 2 percent increase in payroll taxes this year, while many workers are also expected to pay more out of pocket for healthcare this year as new healthcare regulations take effect.

Could the federal government's belt-tightening become a noose around consumer spending? As political leaders debate Round 2 of government debt-cutting, investors will be keenly focused Wednesday on the release of the Commerce Department's retail sales numbers for January. The sales figures are the first piece of data that will hint at whether consumers became reluctant shoppers when they noticed their paychecks slimmed down by a federal payroll tax increase that started in January.

Think back. Minutes before 2 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2008, a 158-year-old investment bank obscure to most Americans -- Lehman Brothers -- became the biggest company ever to file for bankruptcy. In succeeding days, then weeks, then months, the panic-inducing phrase “global financial crisis” lunged out of mothballs to frighten, and eventually debilitate, millions of households. Credit seized. Employers retrenched. Jobs vanished. Home values plummeted. Partisans scanned the horizon for culprits, but there was no one place to aim the blame gun; plenty of villains on the left (who advocated mortgage lending to unqualified buyers)

When Sheila O'Grady began her tenure as president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, the mandate was clear: Assert the association's clout by overturning the city's foie gras ban and defeating a proposed 3 percent state payroll tax. Five years later, on the eve of her departure for executive search firm Spencer Stuart, the issues du jour are as numerous but wholly different: food trucks and an overhaul of the Taste of Chicago. City rules prohibit cooking on the trucks; operators can only serve prepackaged food.

John McCain: Favors using a portion of payroll taxes to finance private retirement accounts, as President Bush has proposed. Opposes increase in Social Security taxes but would be willing to discuss a compromise in which the payroll tax ceiling might be raised. (Currently, Americans pay Social Security payroll tax on their first $97,500 in annual income.) Says no reform to protect Social Security can be successful without bipartisan cooperation. Barack Obama: Opposes using any portion of payroll taxes to finance private retirement accounts.

The rejection of the two-month payroll tax cut by House Republicans vividly demonstrates who the real class warriors are. The peasants will revolt in the voting booths this November. The re-election prospects for President Barack Obama just got a big boost. -- Craig Barner, Chicago